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Tech Data is suing several LCD panel makers, alleging that they formed an international cartel to fix prices over at least a decade.

The IT distie giant claims from the start of 1996 to the end of 2006 the manufacturers conspired to "fix, raise, stabilise and maintain prices" in a lawsuit filed with the federal court in Tampa, Florida.

The filing claims the panel makers – including Samsung Electronics, LG Display, Sanyo and Sharp – met and communicated to "agree to eliminate competition and fix the prices of LCD panels and LCD products" that were to be sold in the US.

The conspiracy extended to the manufacturers own corporate subsidiaries and affiliates, as well as co-conspirators to "prevent price discrepancies" among the cartel members.

This stymied normal downward pressures on price during periods of oversupply or technological change leading to "unusually long periods of high prices and profits", Tech Data stated in the filing.

"As a result of the conspirators' unlawful conduct, plaintiffs paid higher prices for LCD products than they would have paid in a competitive market," it added.

The following summer, Hitachi paid $31m for its role in price-fixing and Epson Imaging Devices Corp paid $26m. In early 2010 Chi Mei Optoelectronics forked out $220m, and in June that year, HannStar paid a $30m fine.

Tech Data said that during the decade it "suffered damages" due to the conspiracy and is seeking to "recover the overcharges paid".

Presumably the distributor will not be passing on any proceeds – should it win the case – to reseller customers that bought TVs, desktop monitors, notebooks or mobile wireless handsets containing the LCD makers' panels during the cartel's activities.

Price-fixing is a recurring theme in the LCD market, with Nokia filing a lawsuit in late 2009 against Sieko Epson, Hitachi, LG Display, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, and Chunghwa Picture Tube.

More recently, the DoJ returned a "superseding indictment" against AU Optronics and six execs for the conspiracy to fix TFT-LCD panels from 2001 to 2006.

Even more recently, three CRT glass makers - Nippon Electric, Schott AG and Asahi Glass - settled with the EU for €128m over operating a cartel.